Extreme Diving Watches Arms Race

Maybe it’s because of the success of the Rolex Submariner, but it seems that everyone’s first watch happens to be a diver. Diving watches are very capable watches that can be used in the most extreme situations, but also offer a sporty almost acceptable dressy look that can be worn for almost any occasion.

My first two watches were both divers naturally. First up was the Omega Seamaster 300 GMT and second was the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean. One very important characteristic of a diving watch is its water resistance. The Seamaster 300 GMT offered 300 meters of water resistance, while the Seamaster Plant Ocean boasted 600 meters.



This was back in the early 2000s and both of those water resistance numbers were thought of as being pretty brag worthy. Nearly 20 years later, I still personally have not gone past 20 meters when diving, and that was on a super sketchy learn to dive out of the back of some guys car in Maui experience… Typically I won’t take a watch past 3 meters.

Regardless of how deep I took my watches, the depth rating was an extremely interesting thing to think about. Through the years I’ve owned a number of divers with water resistance reaching all the way to 2000 meters. The current diver I own is an IWC GST Aquatimer 2000 in titanium, which like its name suggests is good down to 2000 meters. This watch was released in the late 90s and was an evolution of the collaboration between Porsche Design and IWC in their Ocean 2000 watch.



One of the amazing things about the GST Aquatimer 2000 is that 2000 meters was reached without the use of a helium relief valve or a super thick crystal and case. For all of its capabilities, the GST Aquatimer 2000 is housed in a rather subtle case, a true sleeper. I tend to like my watches a little louder and love to be asked about a watch and start a conversation. So that is really my only downside with the watch, which I’m assuming would be a huge plus for most.

Initially I thought the GST Aquatimer 2000 would be a perfect diver / vacation watch for me and it preformed excellently on our recent cruise. The doubt about it staying in my collection crept in recently when I was able to purchase a Hublot King Power Oceanographic 4000 in full carbon fiber at an unbelievable price. I should be able to easily sell the GST Aquatimer 2000 to cover the cost of the King Power, but I’m not sure how the watch will wear with the nearly 23 mm case thickness. The 48 mm diameter and weight shouldn’t be an issue, but the thickness remains to be seen and is probably the one thing holding me back from swapping the IWC for it.



While doing some research on the King Power Oceanographic 4000, I started thinking about the extreme deep sea arms race that has been going on in the watch industry over the past few years. It seemed that every few months another brand would come out with a body crushing depth rating watch. Remember water resistance ratings are a very cool metric, but no person has ever dove past 600 meters, and more than likely will never get much past that.

One of the first extreme depth watches was released by Omega in the 1960s called the Seamaster 600 or the Ploprof (Plongeur Professionnel – Professional Diver). This watch was all business and was even followed up in the 1970s with the Seamaster 1000 or the “The Grand” Seamaster which boasted 1000 meters of water resistance. The Ploprof mainly refers to the Seamaster 600 going forward though. The large case size and just general layout of the watch meant it was not something that everyday people would wear, this was a serious dive tool for professional divers. Before dive computers were around, watches like the Ploprof were essential life and death tools. I’m sure there were non-divers that wore the Ploprof, but in the 1960s, wearing a 55 mm watch was unheard of.



The next big advancement in extreme depth watches was the Rolex Sea-Dweller. The Sea-Dweller was the no-nonsense big brother of the ubiquitous Submariner. While along with the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, the Rolex Submariner is thought of as being one of the first true dive watches. The Sea-Dweller expanded on this and was the first watch to feature a helium escape valve. In 1978, Rolex released the Sea-Dweller 16660, which boasted an unheard of 1200 meters of water resistance. This was now a serious tool watch for divers, all while keeping fairly close dimensions to the Submariner.



The depth rating in watches was now really heating up. We had already touched on the Porsche Design and IWC Ocean 2000, which was released in 1982. The Ocean 2000 was crafted full in titanium with a titanium integrated bracelet, a first at the time. The watch boasted a new record of 2000 meters of water resistance and was extremely slim with a fully automatic movement and no need for a helium escape valve. With the Ocean 2000 and the GST Aquatimer 2000 that followed, we kind of saw the end of slimmer watches that could go down to 2000 meters and beyond.



The next real advancement in deep diving watches came in 2008 when Rolex released the Deepsea Sea-Dweller 1166600. This even larger and thicker Sea-Dweller was now rated to an unimaginable 3900 meters of water resistance. At the time, even with larger watches being in fashion, the Deepsea just felt too big to Rolex fans. Also being crafted out of stainless steel with a stainless steel bracelet, the Deepsea was a heavy watch. In 2012, filmmaker James Cameron would take an experimental Deepsea watch down to the bottom of the Challenger Deep at nearly 11,000 meters, but more on that later.



The first watchmaker to cross 4000 meters was Hublot in 2011. Hublot had the idea that they wanted to break the depth rating record and set out on a multi-year mission to do just so. In partnership with the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, Hublot released the limited edition King Power Oceanographic 4000 in titanium (1000 units) and full carbon fiber (500 units). The watch featured a 9 mm thick sapphire crystal, 23 mm thick case measuring 48 mm in diameter, helium escape valve and a locking internal rotating diver’s bezel. Although the watch is very large as it should be for its capabilities, it is also very lightweight due to its carbon and titanium construction. Although listed as water resistant to 4000 meters, the King Power Oceanographic was actually tested past 5000 meters of water resistance.



Going past 5000 meters was really only being done by quartz watches by this point. One such extreme diver was the Sinn UX EZM 2B. This 44mm watch crafted out of German submarine steel was only 13.3 mm thick and boasted a case completely filled with special oil that made the watch visible at every angle and kept the case water resistant to those extreme depths. The UX was also able to operate at extreme temperatures from – 20 C to 60 C. While the movement was tested to 5000 meters, the case was tested to a mind-blowing 12000 meters.



In the realm of mechanical watches, Hublot held the record for deep divers from 2011 until late 2022 when two watches that could go down to mind-blowing depths were released. First up in September 2022, Omega released the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep. The Planet Ocean Ultra Deeps were crafted in either O-Megasteel or titanium. The watches measured 45.5 mm in diameter and 18.1 mm in thickness. The headline of the release was the now record setting 6000 meters of water resistance. The highlight of the collection is the titanium version that only has lugs that will accept a NATO strap. This model was based off the Ultra Deep concept that in 2019 was strapped on a submarine while testing extreme dives.



Omega’s celebration was not to last long though… In little more than a month after the release of the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep, Rolex released their Deepsea Challenge. The Deepsea Challenge was loosely based on the Deepsea concept that James Cameron took to the bottom of the ocean a decade before. The Deepsea Challenge was the first Rolex crafted in titanium and measured 50 mm in case diameter and 23 mm in thickness. To say this watch is large is an understatement. Although like the titanium Ultra Deep and the titanium / carbon fiber King Power Oceanographic 4000, the Deepsea Challenge wears light due to its titanium construction. Now the real highlight past the Deepsea Challenge’s dimensions is its record shattering water resistance of 11000 meters. The Deepsea Challenge offered nearly three times the water resistance of the King Power Oceanographic 4000 and nearly two times the water resistance of the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep.



With the Deepsea Challenge now offering a watch that can reach the deepest point in the ocean, the extreme divers arm race should be over. Any watch now released with a deeper rating is purely academic and could never achieve its rating naturally. I’m sure deeper watches will be released, but really the next jump in extreme divers will probably happen in case size. When a diver can reach past 5000 meters and not be 45 mm plus in diameter and over 20 mm plus in thickness, it will be a surefire hit.

So there you go… a quick write up on the extreme diver arms race. I guess if you either see us selling an IWC GST Aquatimer 2000 or a Hublot King Power Oceanographic 4000 in the coming weeks, it’ll be obvious if I decided to stay with a slimmer extreme diver with 2000 meters of water resistance or thought I could pull off the excessively bulky 4000 meter behemoth.